Asia stocks were mixed and Treasury yields steady Wednesday as investors balanced the risk of a stronger recovery driving global rates higher against the Federal Reserve’s pledge of continued policy support.
Most sectoral indices in the green, Nifty IT under pressure
Market opening
Indian benchmark equity indices opened marginally higher on Wednesday led by gains in Power Grid, Bajaj Finance and Axis Bank. Sensex opened at 49,763.94, up 2.53 points or 0.03%, while Nifty climbed / declined 32.10 points or 0.22% to 14,707.80.
Power Grid, rising nearly 6%, was the top Sensex gainer followed by ONGC, Bajaj Finance and HCL Tech. Meanwhile, HDFC, Tech Mahindra, Infosys and Maruti Suzuki were among the laggards. Of 30 Sensex shares, 26 opened in the green.
Market pre-opening
Indian stocks traded higher on Wednesday in the pre-opening session. At 9:05am Sensex was at 49,895.50, up 144.09 points or 0.29%, while Nifty was at14,707.80 up 32.10 or 0.22%.
Oil slips after US crude stocks rise
Oil prices fell in early trade on Wednesday after industry data showed US crude inventories unexpectedly rose last week as a deep freeze in the southern states curbed demand from refineries that were forced to shut.
Crude stockpiles rose by 1 million barrels in the week to Feb. 19, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday, against estimates for a draw of 5.2 million barrels in a Reuters poll.
API data showed refinery crude runs fell by 2.2 million bpd.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 55 cents or 0.9% at $61.12 a barrel at 0136 GMT, after slipping 3 cents on Tuesday.
Brent crude futures fell 38 cents, or 0.6%, to $64.99 a barrel, erasing Tuesday's 13 cents gain.
Markets at close on Tuesday
Markets found firmer ground on Tuesday after five days of heavy losses as investors made a cautious return to select energy, banking and infra counters amid mixed global cues.
After gyrating 667.46 points during the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended just 7.09 points or 0.01% higher at 49,751.41.
On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty settled 32.10 points or 0.22% up at 14,707.80.
ONGC topped the Sensex gainers' chart, climbing 5.55%, followed by IndusInd Bank, L&T, UltraTech Cement, SBI, NTPC and Titan.
Asian markets mixed
Asian markets were mixed in the early trade on Tuesday and Treasury yields were steady as investors balanced the risk of a stronger recovery driving global rates higher against the Federal Reserve’s pledge of continued policy support.
Japan's Nikkei 225 declined 0.46%.
South Korea's KOSPI added 0.3%.
Singapore's SGX Nifty climbed 0.6%.
Australia's ASX200 dropped 0.6%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.23%.
Wall Street ends lower
Wall Street retreated on Tuesday as investors shifted away from mega-cap growth stocks, but the sell-off eased following reassurances from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 67.55 points, or 0.21%, to 31,454.14, the S&P 500 lost 15.81 points, or 0.41%, to 3,860.69 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 199.48 points, or 1.47%, to 13,333.57.
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